This Ivy League school is one of the oldest and most distinguished institutions of higher learning in the US. The university was founded in 1701 by a group of Puritan clergymen who wished to provide Connecticut with an institution where young men could be trained to serve the church and state. Yale gained university status in 1887, long after its Medical School (1810) and Law School (1824) were established. The nation's first Ph.D. degrees were awarded by Yale in 1861. Today the university enrolls some 11,200 students, and attracts visitors galore to its world-renowned museums.